Google's Play Store still leads in terms of total apps downloaded but Apple beats it with respect to revenue generated from app downloads.

Amidst all the bad news of falling profits and stagnant growth, it’s easy to forget the behemoth that Apple still is with regard to the modern smartphone ecosystem. Apple has revealed that over 45 billion apps have now been downloaded from its App Store so far at an astonishing rate of 800 app downloads per second. This comes just four months after Apple’s January announcement, that it had crossed the 40 billion app downloads mark.

Apple currently has 850,000 apps available for download on its App Store out of which 350,000 apps have been designed for the iPad. Apple also explained that it has paid over $9 billion (Rs. 48,800 crores approx.) to developers so far with about $1 billion (Rs. 5,400 crores approx.) being paid out every quarter. Apple also revealed that the official App Store’s reach has been extended to 155 countries, covering 90% of people using iOS devices.

In comparison, Google’s Play Store for Android apps crossed 25 billion downloads in September 2013. According to a report by Canalys, more Android apps are downloaded on a daily basis than iOS apps and Android apps have a 51% of share of the total mobile apps downloads from the four major app stores- the Play Store, the Apple App Store, the Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry World . However, the report also shows that the most revenue is generated from the Apple App Store with a 74% share.